Mark Kalzer
We open once again on Redemption Island. Sigh. We basically see the same scene we saw last week in place of the long lost ‘Final Words’. Stacey reveals that Coach is the one allegedly running everything. Christine reacts to this like this is some crime against humanity. "I knew it!" Stacey gives some confessional at night that it largely in coherent. Fortunately George already tipped me off that he’s going to transcribe the whole thing so I don’t have to. (Post edit : Didn’t tell me WHICH one he’d transcribe. I’I wonder if they are more pissed off at Coach or at the fact that the Upolu tribe seems to be following his lead. Now we know from podcasts and interviews that Sophie and Albert are more the ones calling the shots but of course the fundamental problem is that this isn’t being seen on the show so it therefore isn’t true in the eyes of the audience. I shouldn't fault the audience for this assumption… they don’t follow interviews to the degree us die-hards do and I don’t want to hold them to account for it. It does bother me that even on Redemption Island the narrative remains centred around Coach.
After yet another condensed title sequence we get nobody’s favourite castaway yet future 'favorite' tribe member, Brandon, and he's still going on about his morality. Didn’t we settle this weeks ago? He lied, felt bad about it, pledged not to do so. The only new wrinkle this time is that he’s upset about Mikayla's comments on the Hantz family at tribal council. To be fair, I'm actually with Brandon on the point of judging him for who his uncle is. It’s not prejudicial though for Mikayla to be judging Brandon for what he’s done in these first couple weeks. I'm going to keep harping on this for the length of Brandon's time on Survivor, that Brandon's narrative is more about Russell than it is about him, and the real tragedy is that Russell is getting more airtime then most of the South Pacific cast here.
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| What... you were expecting a Russell picture here? Well too bad. (Isn't she cute with the glasses?) |
Back at Upolu we see that Coach is concerned about the next Redemption Island duel. Now that it's Stacey and Christine together, united in their anti-Coachness, he anticipates them dropping some kind of bombshell about Coach in front of the Savaii representatives at the duel. Does Coach not think being a returning player already makes him a target?
Sure enough, dropping intel is exactly what Stacey and Christine do at the duel. One nice thing about Redemption Island, and I say this begrudgingly is that you can talk about everything openly since you no longer have to worry about your island mate using it against you at tribal council. Sure enough, Christine and Stacey go on at great length about Benjamin. Probst of course jumps all over this Benjamin thing since he loves all things Coach. He says “Your way of fighting back is to say that I’m not going to honour the Coach name.” This is where I would cut to John Cleese saying “This is irrelevant is it not?” As much as I am for taking down Coach a notch by calling him by his real name, this has nothing to do with the game, with survival, with anything. It’s just about Coach and his ego. The show revels in either inflating or tearing down his ego, but this is entirely at a distance to him. I’d like them to call him Benjamin to his face at camp but then that would probably create animosity that could you know, get you voted out. I’d love to see that voting confessional actually. “I’m voting for you because you keep calling me by my name.”
Stacey names the core alliance as being Albert, Sophie and Coach, but with Coach and Albert as the ones at the top. There you have it, the first reference this season to the final 3 being together. It’d be nice if we actually got a sense of who Albert is but 5 episodes in him going to this duel is about the most significant thing he’s done so far. I miss the days where our first memories of castaways wasn’t just ‘That guy who is closely aligned with Coach.” Mikayla hears this in addition to Dawn and Whitney from Savaii but this will not pay off in any substantial way I recall.
As for the duel, it’s the one we’ve seen before where balls are dropped down this metal contraption and the castaways have to put them back in at the top. We used to have this at the Ontario Science Centre (Update : Found out via facebook it's still there!) only it had a lot more funny parts to it and it was far more entertaining than this. I have no one to root for in this duel as usual so let’s just cut to the end where Christine wins again.
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| Pictured : My childhood obsession. |
Dawn and Whitney congratulate Christine. Mikalya advises Albert to say nothing. I’ve never really thought about Redemption Island audience etiquette before, especially in this odd scenario where both competitors were voted out by yourself. I think you can show a little respect though knowing that one of them might get back into the game. I’m not saying you should do anything apart from applaud and congratulate Christine, but to say nothing speaks volumes about the amount of respect you give these people. Albert does at one point mouth something along the lines 'sore losers'. All due respect to Albert, it's a long way from Samoa to America and no matter what way you cut it, it hurts to be voted out.
Over to Savaii, we get Elyse feeling really confident about her place in the group of 5. “We haven’t even had to talk about the vote.” Even without the gift of hindsight I think we can all agree that's a bad thing. It's so dangerous to just assume no one behind your back isn't talking about the vote. “Then there’s Ozzy. I’m just taking his lead on the game. We see the game the same way. We feel the same way about the merge, the alliance, about making it far.” It’s great that they both feel the same way about making it far since that is the point of this game. (I hope my sarcasm is getting through here...) However just waiting to follow someone else’s lead is one of the worst ways to play the game. It is also the most commonly used strategy in this day and age. I know this is a post Sandra wins Survivor twice world and letting anyone but you get all the flak is a great way to play the early pre-merge period, but you have to include everyone in your game.
Cochran then appears simultaneously carrying wood and making an awfully big deal about it. Elyse finds this all cute and tells Cochran he’s “The little Cochran that could!” I love how Elyse so clearly talks down to Cochran yet thinks she’s making him feel good. Elyse this week strikes me as that girl in high school who is so popular with the cool kids, is nice to everyone, yet is blind to how obvious she's making the social hierarchy. Yeah, you knew that person. Don’t try to tell me you didn’t.
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| Also... isn't this cute? |
Ozzy asks Cochran how to spell his name. Cochran treats this in that typical cute way, saying he won’t have to spell his name for a long time. I would expect Cochran of all people to know that spelling has never been a pre-requisite of proper voting procedures on this show. Cochran confesses about how Ozzy and Elyse continue to sleep in every morning and immediately Elyse in yet another reminder of how blind she is to all this, says to Ozzy “You’re a good guy!” Yeah she's screwed.
Dawn and Whitney return from Redemption Island. Dawn is surprised that they voted off the girl in the purple dress. (She’s too politically correct to say they voted off the black girl.) In talking about this Ozzy lets loose his opinion that “If Coach is smart he’ll get rid of Albert before the merge.” Before I even get to Jim’s reaction, can I just go off on that point? If Albert’s the most physical player, Coach needs to keep him to beat Ozzy. Ozzy knows as well as anyone (or so I think) that he’s a challenge monster and that you need people at the merge who can beat him early, and then beat him again when he gets back from Redemption Island.
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| No Cochran. You can't beat Ozzy. Shut up about Caramoan. |
Jim uses Vulcan like logic to deduce that Ozzy saying Coach should drop Albert, means Ozzy would drop Keith and Jim before the merge. This is great intel for Jim to note, but it ignores one other thing. Has Ozzy ever been known to pull blindsides? Jim’s in his alliance and while he is annoying him, he’s not useless to Ozzy in the way Billy Garcia was. Ozzy has never been the kind of person to pull a major blindside, and Ozzy is the only member of your tribe you have any past intel on.
Back at Savaii Albert is still stinging from being named at the duel as the head honcho and decides to go idol hunting. Good for him since without being Coach or a Hantz, idol hunting is about the only other guaranteed way to finally get airtime these days. He doesn’t find the idol but he does find the clue. He goes crazy for the camera and then says “I can further garnish Sophie and Coach’s trust by sharing the clue, and I can leverage their help in finding it cause I can’t do this by myself.” This is our second acknowledgement of the final 3 working together. Tellingly Coach agrees with this clue being the secret of just these three. Sophie doesn’t speak during this, not does she the entire episode (To be fair it’s a Savaii boot this week so I’m not too surprised.) but it’s nice to see her position at the top of the pecking order.
The three go searching the tops of trees. Coach prays to god to allow him to find it. I know this god talk annoys a lot of people but I’m not personally annoyed even though I classify myself as agnostic. If this is what people do I have no problem seeing it on Survivor. Yes, I do think it’s a little arrogant to think that god cares weather or not you win a simple game, but if this is reality TV then I expect to see it.
Finally Coach finds the idol and goes nuts to the camera. You can tell how excited he is because he starts refers to himself in third person and by his Coach name again a half dozen times. He's been more subdued in his confessionals than past seasons but not here. “Now I gotta get ahold of myself and say ‘Dragon, just get back in there.’” Wait did the idol just turn Coach on? I digress. “I’m not running the show but at the moment, pretty close!” He's not running the show? Hmm...Unfortunately it’s not clear if that statement is in reference to the tribes being even or to the fact that Albert and Sophie are still ahead of him in the tribal decisions.
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| Shut up! I'm in control! |
On Savaii we get a bunch of those shots of Ozzy going fishing underwater that I’m told the ladies just love. While Ozzy confesses that he feels in control of his tribe, Cochran tells it differently, saying Ozzy has faded to middle aged Ozzy, becoming lazy ass arrogant fisher jungle boy. I hope I never fade to that point in my life.
We then suddenly transition to the challenge and it’s another return of an old school challenge. We saw this back in Amazon, where they all have to eat a big hunk of meat and drop it on the dish. This is a disgusting challenge to watch. This would typically air at around 8:30 pm so hopefully most of America had finished dinner by then. I don’t know why I’ve now watched this challenge 3 times in my life. There's no point in me giving any kind of play by play since it’s impossible to tell what tribe is ahead until the two plates are measured. I do love at the end how the challenge ends with Ozzy still trying to pry a piece of meat off, instead taking the whole remaining pig off the stick. I wish I could remember all the rest of the Ozzy is a dog iconography this season. Upolu wins by just a couple of ounces. Jeff hands Upolu immunity, the reward of veggies spices and bread, and all the meat they just spat out. That is a disgusting reward.
We get a rare post challenge win scene on Upolu of Brandon being happy. The gist of it is that Brandon is cooking, and he’s happy. Whoop dee doo. It added nothing to the story the first time around and in hindsight, yeah it still adds nothing. Seriously... what was the point of that scene? I guess somebody somewhere is entertained by Brandon but not me.
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| Pictured : Me not entertained |
Back at Savaii we get a scene of the group all sore from the challenge. Seems eating with just your teeth is really hard on the inner mouth and jaws. Dawn is missing the back side of one of her molars. Considering what we now know about her teeth that challenge must have been even more difficult for her. Cochran interjects with “We’ll probably all have oral herpies.” He gets awkard stares from everyone so he adds “Doesn’t like 99% of human beings have herpies?” I’m really torn on weather this is just Cochran being himself or if he’s saying this to guarantee time in the final edit. I feel like his Caramoan performance is really carefully constructed for the cameras and I look upon South Pacific Cochran as being the early stages of his character building at work. I'm forever disgusted by the reality TV habit of fabricating a character that is not you entirely for the cameras but I'll give Cochran credit to say that I do think this character is at least closer to himself than it is for Phillip and Coach. People like himself and Cesternino may still play for the cameras, but I think they at least are still mostly themselves.
Ozzy think it’s time to vote off Cochran even while admitting that he’s been working harder than he ever has before. Jim however is ready to make his big move to get out Elyse, but he only has 3 votes out of 7. Inevitably he has to reveal this plan to Keith. He says to him “I got something kinda big to reveal.” I note here that in revealing this to Keith he avoids eye contact. It’s not a lie he’s telling Keith, just very difficult information since it involves breaking up the core 5 alliance. To try to make it easier for Keith to swallow he frames it as necessary due to what Ozzy said about Coach needing to get out Albert. Keith asks if they’re going to tell Ozzy, clearly not getting the point of all this. Jim says “We’re not going to tell Ozzy.” Keith says “But then he’s not going to trust us.” Keith, still isn’t getting the point of this.
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| "Wait wait... this is going to really fuck Ozzy over. Did you think about that?" |
Keith wisely doesn’t like this. He tells the camera “Elyse gets blindsided, and in a sense Ozzy gets blindsided. How’s Ozzy going to trust me when he thinks Cochran gets blindsided?” Keith turns to his number one ally Whitney. Whitney doesn’t like this either. Whitney it seems wants some way they can do this, but still keep Ozzy’s trust.
The decision is made off camera that they will throw their votes to Dawn because they think this will somehow keep Ozzy on their side. Let me just recap all of this before pointing out it’s absurdity… Ozzy thinks his 5 are going for Cochran, when in fact Jim Dawn and Cochran are voting for Elyse. Keith and Whitney have now told Jim they will vote Cochran, but in order to appease Ozzy, they will vote Dawn instead, essentially removing themselves from the decision. That's their strategy for appeasing Ozzy. Yeah what different does this make? They're still not voting with Ozzy, still betraying his trust. If you know this blindside is coming, I think the only way to keep Ozzy’s trust is to just walk up to him and Elyse and tell them everything. You’ve then got 4 votes there out of the 7, and it would send a powerful message to blindside Jim right then and there. Now you've got control and the solid un broken trust of Ozzy and Elyse. Instead they've betrayed the trust of the 4 remaining tribe-mates. Jim’s move here is probably bad long term, but I actually singling out Keith and Whitney here for worst move of the week.
At tribal council Ozzy takes the first question from Jeff about where in his ‘expert’ opinion they are in the game. Ozzy states that this is too early to think about post-merge dynamics. This is yet another one of those answers that only airs in a episode in which he’s about to be blindsided.
The conversation eventually veers into talk about the challenge and of everyone’s jaw injuries. As everyone is listing their sores and cuts Cochran almost inevitably says something meant to be funny about his retainer not being worn properly. Probst asks him to smile and tries then immediately says ‘That’s not a smile more of a grimace.”
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| Seriously... this is what came up when I typed into Google 'Cochran grimace'. I don't get it. |
At this point even Probst is fed up with Cochran over analyzing everything. Dawn interjects and says she is learning to be tolerant of Cochran. Elyse says “I can feel for Cochran. I think we’ve all been in that position where we’ve been picked last for soccer.” Interesting to think how Elyse has allegedly been in this position in the past, was in the opposite position on Savaii until tonight where she doesn’t know she is in it yet again.
Jeff asks Elyse if it would be hard to vote Cochran out. She answers “One thing to appreciate about him is that he so loves and knows that game that weather he stays or goes to redemption island, he’s going to appreciate the experience.” For crying out loud… that’s not an answer to Jeff’s question, and nobody in the world appreciates getting voted out. This is the kind of bullshit answer we typically get from politicians. Just because she says it in a soothing and sympathetic voice doesn’t mask how insulting it is to Cochran. It’s like saying “Come on… you’ll like going on this suicide mission! You of all people should appreciate what you’re doing for your country!”
Jim votes for Lys putting just about the minimal amount of effort into spelling it. He says “Sorry Elyse. This is more to do with keeping Ozzy weak.” Sure must suck to be voted out in place of your number one ally when they don’t want to vote him out. This isn’t even remotely passing the Bechdal test. Allying with a man is one thing, voted out because of your man? That just hurts beyond belief.
We don’t see Keith and Whitney’s votes get cast but when Jeff reads them Whitney grins in that way you do when you think you’ve accomplished some master game move. Ozzy votes for Coch-Train cause… hmm... is that meant to bookend with the “Little Cochran that could?” comment at the beginning of the show? Hey I give Ozzy credit for thinking that far ahead to give us this train motif.
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| Awwwwwww!!!!! |
Elyse goes home having no idea what went down. I’ll miss her but I really didn’t get to know her this season in my first go through until her boot episode. I believe Ben of Survivor Oz recently mentioned she was the one girl out of all the casts he had the most difficulty recalling the face of. She’s got a pretty face and I think I’d like to see her again. I don’t think she was even playing a bad game strategically. It’s hard to say even with the gift of hindsight we have. How do you avoid a blindside that is so carefully orchestrated? My only thing would be to avoid being so obviously close to that one guy on the tribe all the attention is on.
I turn it over to George. George?
George Hawtin
This doesn't come up until ten minutes into the show, but can I just put it at the start for emphasis? Albert's job title (baseball/dating coach) will never not make me smile. By night, he is a dating coach, but by day, he is a baseball.
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| Pictured : Albert |
TECH NOTE: I've watched the first few episodes on a video player where the sound has been ever-so-slightly out of sync with the video. I don't think it's affected what's been going on, but it has made me even more irritable about the season than I would otherwise have been. ("Typical Benny Wade! His mouth stops moving and sound is still coming out of it! I hate when he does that!") I have a better player now and will probably be two to three percent less irritable, though still pretty irritable, because: South Pacific.
Okay, the show. Survivor fans often complain about Redemption Island seasons because the duels take up so much time, but I don't mind the duels as much as the pre-show chatter between the newly voted out person and the already-on-RI person. Once in a blue moon, you'll have a Zane or a Nicole Delma or a Chicken who's entertaining, but generally, there's a surprisingly high correlation between the kind of behaviour that makes someone an early boot and the kind of behaviour that makes me not want to watch someone on my TV. The first ten percent of the episode is just Christine and Stacey talking, and...I don't want to watch them on my TV, because they're unpleasant, and they don't even have my excuse from before about sound being out of sync. I *guess* some useful information is provided here, some foreshadowing about how the season will play out, when Stacey talks about Coach trying to hug her and all of that...but the show could've given us that via, say, a conversation about Albert and Rick. Who were not voted out of the game. And who, not completely coincidentally, are charming and interesting people to watch on my television.
RI duel. Okay, now, this is interesting. Stacey outs "Benjamin", Albert, and Sophie as the core of the dominant Upolu alliance, with Sophie as their third. It's interesting that -- SPOILER ALERT for anyone who hasn't seen this season (I fervently hope that's true of some of you, because that's hilarious) -- they turn out to be the final three. Was Stacey in any way *right*? If so, based on what information? Mikayla's continued presence in the game suggests that Brandon is powerless in the alliance, so, fine...but what makes her think it's "Coach" 1, Albert 2, Sophie 3, Rick 4? Is she just making stuff up (like last week, when she thought her imminent boot was going to be a "blindside")? This is Alanis-calibre ironic: there's only one way we could know if what Stacey is saying reflects reality, and that's by spending more time showing us what's going on at camp and less time showing us what Stacey is saying.
You would think I'd co-sign Christine and Stacey's "I'm not calling him Coach! I'm calling him 'Benjamin'!" crusade, but they just seem so sulky about it. To me, it's a matter-of-fact thing. His name is Ben. He is not a coach; he got fired from his job as a coach. I wouldn't waste a second calling him Ben, or telling him I refuse to call him "Coach" because he isn't one. But the faces they're making here just seem childish. On the other hand, when you refuse to call Coach "Coach", you're not just attacking Ben Wade. You're attacking the Survivor mythology, in which that is this guy's name. It's part about taking Ben Wade down a peg, but it also takes modern Survivor down a peg, and so I can see why the show is editing them to make them seem especially whiny about it. I had remembered, and been annoyed by, Ben's foolish antics when he discovers that some people prefer to (gasp) call him by his name; I hadn't remembered Probst's. This is what makes Jeff both a compelling and a frustrating figure to so many fans: he loves the mythology of the show so, so, so much. For him, calling a man by his name legitimately is "refusing to honour Coach". He'd probably have felt the same way if people had insisted calling Jessica from Gabon by *her* name, even though unlike Ben, she probably wouldn't have minded. (That was "Sugar", of course, and I've heard that, unlike "Coach", that nickname was the show's idea, not hers. Not sure if that's true.)
Stacey continues her monologue, in which she makes one salient point (that "Benjamin" is the guy's name), and then starts jabbering incoherently. Again, this has to be the edit at work because Stacey, for all her flaws, usually speaks English. Now she says: "And, you know, they're children, 26, 22. They're over there listening to all of Benjamin's Hallowe'en jokes, Chuckie The Cheese jokes, (gibberish gibberish), Ben was so loyalty (sic). Come on. Everything got a story. I wasn't buyin' it. No. So they treat like yesterday the tribal was all cahoots (sic), Benjamin let's give a hug, *raspberry*, keep that hug, 'cause it wasn't real." I had to listen to that literally about twenty times to make out that many words from it. Things here that are consistent with Stacey's personality: being unpleasant and insulting her tribemates. During it, Dawn makes a few great faces, including a part where she leans forward intently as if to imply, hey, maybe if I get a couple of inches closer to her, I'll understand what she's ranting about! Dawn's really growing on me.
So. Median age of the people remaining in the game is 27---announcing that a 26-year-old is a child probably is not going to endear her to them if she makes it back into the game. As usual, I'm not sure how she or Christine think they're serving their games with bitter attacks on those they'll need if they get back in. But I feel like this whole unfortunate "monologue" was the show's way of punishing Stacey for not toeing the "Coach" line.
Okay. Challenge. Christine wins. See, then Stacey gives a little speech that I think is a bit silly in places (something about being a diva is in there?), but you can understand the words she's saying. It's only when she's criticizing the show that she's completely incoherent. Then, in an odd moment, Dawn and Whitney shout well wishes to Christine and Stacey, and we cut to Mikayla and Albert, and Mikayla's mouth moves, and the subtitle "Don't even say anything" pops up on the screen, but...I certainly don't hear her say that. This crazy show!
Ten and a half minutes into the episode (does RI usually take this long?), we're finally onto the game and done with RI. Rick talks - "How was it? Bad?" *Excellent*: Albert reports Stacey's "Benjamin" tirade, and Brandon says, genuinely confused, "Who's Benjamin?" $10 says he thought Mr. and Mrs. Wade named their baby "Coach". That's great. Then Ben has his "even my parents call me 'Coach'" tantrum. Which...they don't, Ben. They just don't. Or, if they do, it's because they find the tantrums you throw when someone calls you by your name as tiresome as I do.
Savaii. Oh, no. I was hoping we wouldn't get to Savaii. I will say, though, this thing coming up is well-edited. Ozzy and Elyse chat about how good she's feeling and how she's "(his) little omen", which, again - not sure if that means what Ozzy thinks it means. Then there's a truly outstanding shot - Elyse lists the people in the alliance and talks about how strongly aligned they are, and the shot of Jim's face when she says his name? It's not the face of a man who is strong in his alliance. It is the face of a man who is paranoid, suspicious, ready to make a big move just to make a big move, and is also badly constipated. Everyone complains about Survivor editing, and they're right, in terms of the evenness of character visibility? But little moments like this are just beautiful storytelling. In only a few seconds, they establish that Elyse is confident, they establish why she's confident, and they cleverly show why she shouldn't be. Well done, show.
Up until now, my Survivor crush on Elyse has just been about her being hot, but damn it, she gives a confessional now about Survivor strategy that just melts my heart. I've always believed that the best Survivor strategy is, "get the numbers, forget about strategy until you don't have the numbers anymore", and that's what Elyse says she's doing. That's what you *should* do, and should *be able* to do if you don't have Jim Rice all up in your area making problems. If Savaii had done the smart thing here and booted "Cochran", made Dawn feel like she was part of a solid six, then they could've gone to the end together. Now, I will say, just in the spirit of nitpicking: it's funny when Elyse says that she and Ozzy see the game the same way "in terms of making it far". I wonder how many people get out there and see the game differently in terms of making it far. "You know what place I'm hoping to come in? Ninth! That's my lucky number!" I'm just playing. I love Elyse.
Okay. "Cochran" shows up. He has kind of an awkward interaction with Elyse and Ozzy. I must confess, when I was Cochran's age and had Cochran's social skills and a girl who looked like Elyse spoke to me, my first reaction would have been, a., I'm in love, and then b., something's not right here, girls who look like that don't speak to me, c., she must be trying to bully me. There's a certain awkwardness that permeates everything about this guy; he doesn't know how to talk to them, so then they don't know how to talk to him. Then Ozzy asks him how to spell his name. Which...even if he's joking, a guy like "Cochran" is going to take that as, "I'm going to write your name down". It's how his brain works. Dumb move, Ozzy. Also, this all reminds me of a time in one of the Survivor groups, around Caramoan times, when someone wrote that Conceran was playing a great game, and all fans should be rooting for Conceran, and I posted that I agreed, yes, Conceran is very great. I was sort of bullying that person, come to think of it. But, seriously, "Conceran"?
Dawn and Whitney come back, and Dawn fills in everyone on how it went. She outlines the pecking order as described by Stacey. Someone - he's off screen, but I'm 99% sure it's Cochran - randomly declares, "If Coach is smart, he'll get rid of Albert soon!"
...
PROBLEM.
PROBLEM.
You're Ozzy. You're in a tight alliance of five. You seem to share my and Elyse's view - get in the five, stay in the five, eventually be in the F5. But you're playing with a clear overplayer in Jim. You know Jim is an overplayer; you've mocked him for being one. You find out that the other tribe has a similar dynamic to yours. And you decide to...randomly announce that the other tribe's alliance should cannibalize itself? In short, that the other tribe's Ozzy should vote out the other tribe's Jim? *And then you expect your tribe's Jim not to react when he finds out that's your view of what Ozzys should do to Jims?* It's little things like this that make Ozzy one of the worst Survivor players ever. He's great at challenges, he's easy on the eyes, but he should never talk, ever, because *in less than a minute* (in show time) he's signified to two very paranoid guys that he wants to vote them out. Hasn't been *quite* stupid enough to say it in as many words, but what else can "he'll get rid of Albert soon" mean except for "I would get rid of my Albert, who is Jim"? What else can "How do you spell your name?" mean other than "I am going to write down your name"? I can't get over how inept this guy is.
Sure enough, Jim's immediate reaction is, "Why would he get rid of Albert?" Then Jim confessionals...pretty much what I exactly just said without having seen Jim's confessional in a few years. Gosh. I had forgotten about Ozzy's whole imply-an-intention-to-vote-out-everybody rampage in this episode, and it completely shifts the blame from Jim to Ozzy for the whole alliance-cannibalizing-itself problem. Completely. Jim still bears some of the blame for voting out Elyse instead of Ozzy, but that's the only problem. If X says, "Xs should vote out Ys!", and you're a Y, you get rid of X, not Z. That's Jim's problem. I made exactly this move in an ORG - this Elyse move - a while ago, so I sympathize with Jim a little bit. He's overplaying.
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| Pictured : Albert in confessional. |
Cut to the second confessional of the season from the baseball, who says, "The duel was definitely painful to hear some of the things that were said, not painful personally, but painful towards my cause." Okay, when I first watched this season and I thought Albert was the new Yul, statements like that could be why. Yul could have said that. If my sound were still out of sync I might find it annoying, but as it is? Referring to one's position in a game of Survivor as "my cause" is the most adorable thing I have heard in some time. Thinking he's now going to be perceived as a threat, he goes idol-hunting. Oh, Albert - why? Go to merge with numbers. Then take your 5 to 5. Then take your 3 to 3. You're in the absolute perfect place to win this game. Spend your time being friendly with everybody, not idol-hunting. You're hurting your cause! What would your uncle, former New York Yankee Orestes Destrade, say about this?
(Trivia: Albert's uncle was the first person ever to be struck out by Randy Johnson in the major leagues. The more you know...)
Albert finds an idol clue. He stage-whisper-yelps, "The cluuuuuuuuue!" Okay, that was adorable also. Then a lengthy sequence of Albert idol-hunting. The show has gotten good mileage out of these - Gabon Dan's Analytical Crater, Cirie going back and forth across the water - but this one's pointless. Then we cut to him telling Sophie and Ben he found the clue. Again, this sequence feels like the game in microcosm: the three of them being the three-within-the-five-within-the-dominant-tribe who have the tighest bond; of the three, Albert being the overanxious, overeager, slightly inept baseball; Coach being the insincere jerk who awkwardly praises Albert for finding the clue; Sophie, just sitting back, measured, poised to benefit when these guys collapse. I mean no disrespect by that, either: poise is one of the absolute integral Survivor skills that far too few have, and I'm seeing that Sophie has it in spades.
Oh, gosh. Now "Coach Wade" prays for the idol, and then he finds it a few seconds later, gloating, "Ask, and you shall receive!" Yeah, that's how God works. Maybe should've prayed to win the game, then, Benny. "Coach" shows them the idol and then hugs them. See, again, good play by Sophie. Sophie doesn't seem to like or respect "Coach". (As she shouldn't.) But he tries to hug her, and she damn well hugs him back, because it's a social game. I...could not. I just could not. If I were on a season with "Coach" or Brandon or Boston Rob or Lisi, I just could not hug them to celebrate them having a new advantage in the game that they might use to benefit us, or might use to benefit themselves. Survivor fans talk a lot about big moves, because they're easier to remember, but games are actually made up of little moves. Sophie hugging Coach even though that's probably the last thing she wanted to do? Outstanding little move.
Back to Savaii. Ozzy times. "Cochran" times. Ozzy gives a confessional about how "they're really becoming my tribe". On further reflection, maybe that's the biggest hole in Ozzy's gameplay: he thinks of "my tribe" as "people I can treat however I want with no consequences". The reason he almost won Cook Islands was because, well, that was Yul's tribe, and Ozzy was there to climb trees and swim. When Ozzy is the underdog, he's fine. When he is the boss, he goes around asking, "How do I spell your name (so I can write it down when I vote you out because I am the boss of you)?" "Cochran" gives an astute confessional about how this will "come back to bite him in the ass". Which...it should. Unfortunately, it doesn't; instead, it bites Elyse in the ass, which I can't necessarily blame it for doing (I'd totally do that if I were it), but isn't terribly fair.
Immunity challenge. This is grotesque. I am not watching it, but I will listen. Ugh. Even listening to this is grotesque. Who thought this was a good idea?
 |
| Probably this guy. |
Okay, I gather Upolu won. They look happy.
Back to Savaii. Cochran starts talking about herpes. Dawn makes a great face. I'm so dreadfully bored of these people (mostly Brandon, "Coach", Ozzy, and "Cochran"). Strategy talk happens. Ozzy rallies his troops against Cochran; Jim rallies his (Cochran and Dawn) against Elyse. Jim approaches Keith, recognizing him as a swing vote. Again, he does that Jim thing that bugs me, leading the conversation with, "I gotta talk to you about something that came up that I didn't like." Good Survivor players are other-focused. If you're Jim talking to Keith, the message is, "Ozzy is going to vote YOU out the way he thinks Coach should vote Albert out." There's no "I" in that. You're not talking to Keith about "something I didn't like". You're talking to Keith about something KEITH isn't going to like. This - along with the "I target the non-threat rather than the threat because that is more complicated and therefore smart" thing - is what's wrong with Jim. Too self-focused.
I mean, then he gives a little confessional about how the "Redemption Island information" is "a piece of fear" he can use on Keith, as if getting rid of Elyse was a good idea already and this is a convenient pretext. No. It's not. Before the Coach-should-vote-out-Albert foolishness, Jim's smart move was to stick with his five and vote out Cochran. After it, his smart move is to vote out Ozzy. It was *never* to vote out Elyse, and "someone's mindset is an active threat to me" is never a sidebar that should help you sell your plan---it's important information that should shape your plan. I feel like Jim is probably a smarter guy than this when he's, you know, eating food and sleeping in a bed and bathing. Keith seems to agree pretty much right away about booting Elyse, which...wait, what? Does this make sense in some alternate reality? If somebody's trying to fuck your shit up, you vote *them* out. *Them*. Not their friend with whom you are also aligned. *Them*. This is not rocket science.
 |
| "Trust me. I know." |
Then Keith frets: how do you vote Elyse out without losing Ozzy? You don't, you moron, you vote out Ozzy! Whitney confessionals the same thing. I have heard absolutely no argument for voting out Elyse. This'd be like, you're on Thailand, and you're Helen, and you realize: Brian has too much power, I'd better vote out Jan! Or, you have liver cancer, and you say, I'm going to remove one of my kidneys, THAT'LL SHOW MY LIVER WHO'S BOSS.
Then "Cochran" confessionals about how proud he is of Ozzy hating him and how Ozzy will hate him even more after he votes out Ozzy's "hammock sweetheart". I can't get over these people who think it's a good idea to make people hate you in a game of Survivor. There are a very few limited situations in which it's a good idea to pick a fight with the one person everyone hates in order to endear yourself to them - think Sandra, "I'm against you, Russell." Or Sandra scoffing at the idea that Fairplay's grandmother had died. Or pretty much anything Sandra ever did. But if you aren't Sandra, the goal of the game is to make everyone like you. You don't alienate anybody. You never know who you'll need. In fairness to "Cochran", Elyse is never really shown doing anything on her own, as a person. But we're not talking about voting out Elyse, the person; we're talking about voting out Elyse, the Survivor contestant. What they're doing makes exactly as much sense as it would make to take somebody's bishop in chess because you're convinced it's friends with one of the rooks and you don't like that rook. *Strategy game*, fellas, not high school. All of these people bother me so much.
Long tribal! I hate that, when everything is settled going in and Probst drags it out. If there's no suspense (and there wasn't, here), I'd be totally open to a fifteen-second TC and more stuff happening at camp. Like...explaining why they took out the bishop and not the rook, the kidney and not the liver, and so forth. Also, I wish Rick talked more.
Next time...Brandon is Brandon, Ozzy is Ozzy.
Elyse final words, we see the votes. After asking Cochran how to spell his name, Ozzy spells his name wrong. *Excellent*. (I'm sure it was some sort of joke, but it was a dumb one, like when Penner voted for "Denies".) Also, some interesting spellings of "Elyse" out of Jim and Harvard Law. Is this season over yet?
Banter
Mark Kalzer
you seem to be online now... you okay to do this week's chat now?
George Hawtin
Sure thing, giant beer.
 |
| Okay then... |
Mark Kalzer
So I think we disagreed here... your worst move of the week came from Jim Rice for orchestrating this blindside... and mine went to Keith and Whitney for throwing their votes on Dawn and accomplishing absolutely nothing but alienating everyone...
George Hawtin
No, my worst move of the week was Ozzy alienating Jim and pushing Jim into orchestrating this blindside. It's one of the worst moves in Survivor history, for me.
Ozzy is great at all the parts of Survivor except for the talking parts.
But, yes, I agree: Keith and Whitney should not have put their votes on Dawn. That was foolish.
Mark Kalzer
It's a question of how much Ozzy could see it coming...
George Hawtin
Why not have the majority vote for Ozzy and Keith and Whitney vote Elyse, if the concern was Ozzy's idol? But no one ever brings Ozzy's idol up, as I recall.
Mark Kalzer
but seeing as he's already observed that the only thing Jim does is talk about strategy.... he might as well assume he's planning things behind his back.
George Hawtin
That was the frustration of the episode, for me. Everyone just takes for granted: "Ozzy is pissing us off. So, Elyse?" It's never discussed *why* they don't go for Ozzy.
Mark Kalzer
I think the problem with voting Ozzy is two fold... a) You want him for the challenges. b) With Redemption Island in play and Ozzy being Ozzy, Ozzy will clearly just boomerang back into the game angry.
George Hawtin
On rewatch, I'm actually starting to feel the way a lot of internet commenters felt as it aired: Sophie is the only one of these people who doesn't bug me and I hope she wins just for that.
Mark Kalzer
But now it will be at the merge and you won't have exclusive time on Savaii to patch things up.
Elyse is one of those frustrating votes to study since it wasn't even her being voted out. It's like Mary's vote in Micronesia. I don't know how this keeps happening where they mean to target a major figure in the tribe so they target the girl next to him instead.
George Hawtin
Yeah, exactly. I feel like good players don't do this.
It's 101: you want to kill the snake, you cut off its head.
Mark Kalzer
That's why I say Keith and Whitney should go to Ozzy and Elyse and tell everything. Guarantee your trust with Ozzy.
Then you get rid of the cancer that is Jim Rice and move forward with a strong 4 person alliance.
George Hawtin
That's an interesting theory.
Mark Kalzer
You can still make nice with Cochran and Dawn since they were just trying to stay alive.
George Hawtin
I think Ozzy saying he believes in voting off challenge threats pre-merge made him a big threat to Keith, even if Keith didn't get that.
Mark Kalzer
I just find it laughable... "We don't want to piss off Ozzy... so let's vote Dawn instead of Cochran."
George Hawtin
Yeah, I agree, voting Dawn was the worst possible move for them.
Mark Kalzer
Yeah I don't know what Ozzy was thinking when he said that. Has there been a precedent in Ozzy's game of targeting challenge threats pre-merge?
George Hawtin
Honestly, I think he was just trying to sound smart.
Mark Kalzer
I don't know if there was even much fallout... was there a scene next show of Jim confronting Keith with 'What the hell... Dawn??!'
Ozzy was just trying to be a part of the conversation?
The conversation if it played out without editing ... was "Albert and Coach are together." "If Coach is smart, he'll vote out Albert."
George Hawtin
It's one of those things - "vote out the challenge threats pre-merge" *sounds* like good Survivor strategy.
Mark Kalzer
Maybe he was thinking, "Coach should vote out Albert so it doesn't look like we are together."
George Hawtin
The other thing - and I hate to give Ozzy this much credit, because I hate Ozzy, but just trying to be fair - is that Ozzy, being a challenge star, probably *wouldn't* feel the need to vote out Albert or Keith or Jim.
He was probably just opining on what Coach should do.
Mark Kalzer
And that's what I also find weird about Jim's mantra of 'Ozzy wants to target strength'
He's watched Survivor... he's watched Ozzy. I've NEVER seen that angle from Ozzy...
Am I wrong?
George Hawtin
In fairness, Ozzy *said* someone should target strength, so that's where he got it from.
Mark Kalzer
It's like... Jim is using the kind of clever insight you would use on somebody you just met on the island... but Jim KNOWS Ozzy.
So George... has anyone ever called you 'The little Hawtin that could'?
George Hawtin
Yeah, I mean, I agree, it's laughable to think that Ozzy would vote Jim out for being a challenge threat.
All the time. That's pretty much all I answer to.
Mark Kalzer
I'm just playing the show back as we blog... I dunno... I think she means well but it seems so condescending.
George Hawtin
Yeah, for sure. It's tough, with Cochran. He says these awkward things that people don't know quite how to handle, so then they respond...as you say, condescendingly. Like, she's *trying* to interact with him and just doesn't know what the hell to say to that.
Mark Kalzer
Oh and in fairness... the exact quote from Jim is... "Ozzy is saying that if he were Coach he'd vote Cochran." So Ozzy would only do this in the odd scenario in which he was Coach instead of being Ozzy.
You know how it is... sometimes there's just people you can have a comfortable repore with... and then there's people you are just eternally awkward with. So all you can give are fake smiles and pleasantries.
George Hawtin
I would respond to Cochran the same way as Elyse does, probably - but Elyse looks like Elyse and I look like me, so I can see where it's a little more insulting coming from her. Like, he clearly *wants* people to like him.
Mark Kalzer
She's clearly quite comfortable around Ozzy.
It just feels like Cochran just has no one on this beach he can really relate too. He's even got Survivor fans on his tribe but Jim and Dawn have so many other things going on in their lives. Their lives aren't defined by Survivor the way Cochran's is.
When you get to Caramoan... suddenly Cochran is surrounded by people who largely DO live a life of Survivor... and of reality TV.
It's like with me... I'm not really comfortable around work... I'm not a typical average person who can talk about babies and home improvement to any great degree... I have little to say on those topics..
but if I get in line to a theatre show in Toronto... or at a film festival, (or PoS) I can talk for hours about anything.
George Hawtin
Yeah, exactly. I feel for Cochran, the person, much more than Cochran, the Survivor player. You can tell he just wants some friends.
Mark Kalzer
It's almost as if the only person on this cast he really connects with will be Coach when they merge... and that's only cause Ben loves meeting people who dig his Coach persona.
With Survivor you kind have two very different segments of fans. You got people like us who love the strategy...
Then you got people who love what's on my screen right now. Shots of Ozzy fishing. a lot of people... just LOVE Ozzy fishing!
George Hawtin
Yeah, I mean, I could watch Ozzy swim all day.
Mark Kalzer
Isn't it weird that Jim's a superfan... but he doesn't have that much of a connection to Cochran?
It's not like this tribe is completely dominated by recruits the way Cook Island's cast was...
George Hawtin
Jim is very self-absorbed in his way. He doesn't seem to connect to anyone. His conversations are all, "SO LISTEN, ABOUT THIS STRATEGIC IDEA I HAD WHICH WAS AWESOME BECAUSE I'M AWESOME..."
Like, I'm sure if Jim were a connecter, he'd connect with Cochran.
But he's in his own head.
Mark Kalzer
(Be easy... he may be one of the 50 or so people who actually read this blog!)
George Hawtin
Oh, yeah. I like Jim.
Mark Kalzer
Yes... I like Jim too.
George Hawtin
He's just in his own head too much.
Jim, if you're reading this: I really think you'd do better on a second season and learn from your mistakes.
Mark Kalzer
Yeah well... you've been in ORGs the same as I have. At a certain point you really want to make a big move just because it's so exciting to do so.
George Hawtin
I was saying to my dad the other day: Jim strikes me, too, as the kind of guy who'd be good at Survivor if it were held at a nice luxury resort, but who can't keep his social skills together when he's sleeping on the ground.
Mark Kalzer
Though in all fairness... my last ORG pre merge was basically... Vote 1 : Everyone knows each other but me and want to target each other, so they turn to me and my ally as the swing votes. Vote 2 : The two factions make fake nice with each other and blindside my ally. Vote 3 : I make revenge on the group that betrayed me and join the group I betrayed in vote 1.
I don't know if he's necessarily even BAD at Survivor...
George Hawtin
Yeah, I've never made a move in an ORG just for the sake of making one. I did, however, once do a Jim-style overmove.
Mark Kalzer
That's sort of the problem with the Tribe vs Tribe mentality... this season has a Pagonging...
but would you say Jim is a worse player than Edna?
(I love you Edna, by the way!)
Just because someone finishes below another doesn't mean they are 'worse' at Survivor.
George Hawtin
There are many types of bad play, is the thing. It's hard to quantify these things. I've tried to do overall rankings of everyone to ever play, and it's almost impossible.I don't think finishing order (except for the winner) determines how good you are.
But is Edna-style passivity worse than Jim-style blowing your whole game up?
Is it better to do nothing or the wrong thing? An interesting debate.
Mark Kalzer
It is impossible. It's like quantifying baseball. Even with stats there's so many variables that break them up like the stadium you play in and what league you play in.
George Hawtin
Also, yeah, I don't generally (except when I'm in the throes of an argument) call someone a "bad player". There are no bad players, only bad play. I think Jim botched this episode royally and it tanked his game, but I think if he came back, he'd do better on his second try than Ozzy did on his.
Mark Kalzer
It's like you point to Sandra as the only real case study of someone with a pattern. Just that perfect balance of passivity and non-passivity.
But did THIS tank his game? It's sort of a double edged sword. It's like he brought Cochran in... if anything gave him LESS reason to flip at the merge...
Or is your argument that saving Cochran here screwed him over later?
George Hawtin
He started the episode with an alliance of five and an alienated two on the bottom; he ended it with an alliance of three, a harmless Elyse voted out, and Ozzy hating him. I still say the move was voting out Ozzy here. Elyse would've forgiven them quicker than Ozzy did. Alternately, vote out Cochran and try to make the five work somehow. Anything that doesn't make you one more enemy in the game and vote out a harmless ally.
Mark Kalzer
But if you vote out Ozzy... you know his abilities. You're GOING to get him back at the merge.
Right now... they're going down by a number... you don't know when the merge and RI return date will be.... down in the numbers you get Ozzy back as a free agent... possibly with your tribe down in numbers.
If this were any other season ... (other than 22) you could just blindisde Ozzy right now.
George Hawtin
But by voting out Elyse, you make Ozzy a free agent as well. But, yeah, I see your point about RI.
I just don't see the point of voting out Elyse, blowing up your alliance, and not even getting out the person who is giving you trouble.
Mark Kalzer
(It's another reason why I hate RI)
And yeah... I am still with you on not doing any of this at all. I'm thinking stay the course.
If people are upset with Ozzy now pre-merge... they'll be upset with him post merge. You'll get him off eventually.
...might take a couple of times to actually GET him off permanently... but ...
Man I HATE Redemption Island.
I'd say follow the Australian Outback strategy. You enter the merge with the numbers... then when the timing is right and you snatch immunity... blindside him like they did Jerri.
George Hawtin
Yeah, that's the biggest problem with RI. It's no coincidence that the two players production seemed to want to win the RI seasons were also the biggest challenge threats on their seasons (though Mariano is no Ozzy).
But I'm sure that if Mariano had ended up on RI, the challenge would've been "trivia about Amber".
Mark Kalzer
I find it telling that RI has only ever come back in conjunction with returning players.
Oh ... and they are all males who've come back these two seasons.
*sigh* My least favourite line of the night. "One thing to appreciate about Cochran, he loves the game so much. Weather he gets voted out... he'll appreciate the experience."
George Hawtin
So arrogant.
That was Ozzy, right?
Mark Kalzer
No... Elyse.
George Hawtin
Oh, of course.
Mark Kalzer
So the only other major thing I take from this show... we FINALLY get a confirmation of the 3 way alliance between Sophie, Albert and Coach.
We don't get a confessional from Sophie this week strangely enough despite the fact she's clearly shown to be in a great position.
George Hawtin
That's the dream, right? Least offensive person within a 3 within a 5 within a 7?
Mark Kalzer
Yes...
I like least offensive.
It's like that line said by some Pagong member... "This competition has degraded from a game of who is most worthy, to who is least objectionable."
George Hawtin
I think that was Sean Kenniff, I'm not sure.
Mark Kalzer
oh... okay. Yeah point for you.
George Hawtin
Excellent. I've always wanted a point.
For me, 90% of Sophie's game was in her jury performance.
Mark Kalzer
It's so tough... I don't think she gave the producers too compelling a game as your average day 39 player... but it was a well played game.
George Hawtin
It's often said in Survivor groups that the RI cast would have followed the Pearl Islands/Guatemala tradition of not giving the money to the person who got there "illegitimately", *if only Natalie Tenerelli had made a jury argument*.
Mark Kalzer
It's just part of my theory... a well played game is often boring.
You get in an alliance... get a sub alliance... get to the merge with numbers... then follow the pecking order.
Make sure you have two goats next to you.
George Hawtin
Yeah, I mean, I could watch Ozzy swim all day.
Mark Kalzer
Isn't it weird that Jim's a superfan... but he doesn't have that much of a connection to Cochran?
It's not like this tribe is completely dominated by recruits the way Cook Island's cast was...
George Hawtin
Jim is very self-absorbed in his way. He doesn't seem to connect to anyone. His conversations are all, "SO LISTEN, ABOUT THIS STRATEGIC IDEA I HAD WHICH WAS AWESOME BECAUSE I'M AWESOME..."
Like, I'm sure if Jim were a connecter, he'd connect with Cochran.
But he's in his own head.
Mark Kalzer
(Be easy... he may be one of the 50 or so people who actually read this blog!)
George Hawtin
Oh, yeah. I like Jim.
Mark Kalzer
Yes... I like Jim too.
George Hawtin
He's just in his own head too much.
Jim, if you're reading this: I really think you'd do better on a second season and learn from your mistakes.
Mark Kalzer
Yeah well... you've been in ORGs the same as I have. At a certain point you really want to make a big move just because it's so exciting to do so.
George Hawtin
I was saying to my dad the other day: Jim strikes me, too, as the kind of guy who'd be good at Survivor if it were held at a nice luxury resort, but who can't keep his social skills together when he's sleeping on the ground.
Mark Kalzer
Though in all fairness... my last ORG pre merge was basically... Vote 1 : Everyone knows each other but me and want to target each other, so they turn to me and my ally as the swing votes. Vote 2 : The two factions make fake nice with each other and blindside my ally. Vote 3 : I make revenge on the group that betrayed me and join the group I betrayed in vote 1.
I don't know if he's necessarily even BAD at Survivor...
George Hawtin
Yeah, I've never made a move in an ORG just for the sake of making one. I did, however, once do a Jim-style overmove.
Mark Kalzer
That's sort of the problem with the Tribe vs Tribe mentality... this season has a Pagonging...
but would you say Jim is a worse player than Edna?
(I love you Edna, by the way!)
Just because someone finishes below another doesn't mean they are 'worse' at Survivor.
George Hawtin
There are many types of bad play, is the thing. It's hard to quantify these things. I've tried to do overall rankings of everyone to ever play, and it's almost impossible.I don't think finishing order (except for the winner) determines how good you are.
But is Edna-style passivity worse than Jim-style blowing your whole game up?
Is it better to do nothing or the wrong thing? An interesting debate.
Mark Kalzer
It is impossible. It's like quantifying baseball. Even with stats there's so many variables that break them up like the stadium you play in and what league you play in.
 |
| And the type of Albert you use. |
George Hawtin
Also, yeah, I don't generally (except when I'm in the throes of an argument) call someone a "bad player". There are no bad players, only bad play. I think Jim botched this episode royally and it tanked his game, but I think if he came back, he'd do better on his second try than Ozzy did on his.
Mark Kalzer
It's like you point to Sandra as the only real case study of someone with a pattern. Just that perfect balance of passivity and non-passivity.
But did THIS tank his game? It's sort of a double edged sword. It's like he brought Cochran in... if anything gave him LESS reason to flip at the merge...
Or is your argument that saving Cochran here screwed him over later?
George Hawtin
He started the episode with an alliance of five and an alienated two on the bottom; he ended it with an alliance of three, a harmless Elyse voted out, and Ozzy hating him. I still say the move was voting out Ozzy here. Elyse would've forgiven them quicker than Ozzy did. Alternately, vote out Cochran and try to make the five work somehow. Anything that doesn't make you one more enemy in the game and vote out a harmless ally.
Mark Kalzer
But if you vote out Ozzy... you know his abilities. You're GOING to get him back at the merge.
Right now... they're going down by a number... you don't know when the merge and RI return date will be.... down in the numbers you get Ozzy back as a free agent... possibly with your tribe down in numbers.
If this were any other season ... (other than 22) you could just blindisde Ozzy right now.
George Hawtin
But by voting out Elyse, you make Ozzy a free agent as well. But, yeah, I see your point about RI.
I just don't see the point of voting out Elyse, blowing up your alliance, and not even getting out the person who is giving you trouble.
Mark Kalzer
(It's another reason why I hate RI)
And yeah... I am still with you on not doing any of this at all. I'm thinking stay the course.
If people are upset with Ozzy now pre-merge... they'll be upset with him post merge. You'll get him off eventually.
...might take a couple of times to actually GET him off permanently... but ...
Man I HATE Redemption Island.
I'd say follow the Australian Outback strategy. You enter the merge with the numbers... then when the timing is right and you snatch immunity... blindside him like they did Jerri.
 |
| Yes... I know this isn't Australia Jerri. Someone find me a proper capture suite and a complete set of Survivor DVDs... |
George Hawtin
Yeah, that's the biggest problem with RI. It's no coincidence that the two players production seemed to want to win the RI seasons were also the biggest challenge threats on their seasons (though Mariano is no Ozzy).
But I'm sure that if Mariano had ended up on RI, the challenge would've been "trivia about Amber".
Mark Kalzer
I find it telling that RI has only ever come back in conjunction with returning players.
Oh ... and they are all males who've come back these two seasons.
*sigh* My least favourite line of the night. "One thing to appreciate about Cochran, he loves the game so much. Weather he gets voted out... he'll appreciate the experience."
George Hawtin
So arrogant.
That was Ozzy, right?
Mark Kalzer
No... Elyse.
George Hawtin
Oh, of course.
Mark Kalzer
So the only other major thing I take from this show... we FINALLY get a confirmation of the 3 way alliance between Sophie, Albert and Coach.
We don't get a confessional from Sophie this week strangely enough despite the fact she's clearly shown to be in a great position.
George Hawtin
That's the dream, right? Least offensive person within a 3 within a 5 within a 7?
Mark Kalzer
Yes...
I like least offensive.
It's like that line said by some Pagong member... "This competition has degraded from a game of who is most worthy, to who is least objectionable."
George Hawtin
I think that was Sean Kenniff, I'm not sure.
Mark Kalzer
oh... okay. Yeah point for you.
George Hawtin
Excellent. I've always wanted a point.
For me, 90% of Sophie's game was in her jury performance.
Mark Kalzer
It's so tough... I don't think she gave the producers too compelling a game as your average day 39 player... but it was a well played game.
George Hawtin
It's often said in Survivor groups that the RI cast would have followed the Pearl Islands/Guatemala tradition of not giving the money to the person who got there "illegitimately", *if only Natalie Tenerelli had made a jury argument*.
Mark Kalzer
It's just part of my theory... a well played game is often boring.
You get in an alliance... get a sub alliance... get to the merge with numbers... then follow the pecking order.
Make sure you have two goats next to you.
= Sophie's strategy.
George Hawtin
George Hawtin
I often argue that Sophie is Natalie T with a strong jury performance. And, I mean, I don't consider that an insult. I went into the RI FTC sure she'd win, because Phillip was insane, and they couldn't *possibly* give Kramer a million dollars for beating some kids at karate.
Yeah, I agree with you.
"Have numbers, keep numbers, don't make unnecessary moves." The strategy pulled off by the winners I consider the three best (Hatch, Heidik, Spradlin) and my personal favourite (Aras), plus Sophie. Has anyone else ever done it?
Mark Kalzer
Tina... Ethan... Tom...
Yul...
George Hawtin
Yul didn't have numbers; Raro had the majority at merge.
But, yeah, the others are good examples.
Mark Kalzer
true... but he restored the numbers at a specific point.
He didn't turn his back on his people.'
George Hawtin
I love Yul.
Mark Kalzer
Not that he ever had a good reason to.
Allright... anything else to add?
George Hawtin
Nope, I'm good.
Mark Kalzer
okay... I'll close it here.
Tina... Ethan... Tom...
Yul...
George Hawtin
Yul didn't have numbers; Raro had the majority at merge.
But, yeah, the others are good examples.
Mark Kalzer
true... but he restored the numbers at a specific point.
He didn't turn his back on his people.'
George Hawtin
I love Yul.
Mark Kalzer
Not that he ever had a good reason to.
Allright... anything else to add?
George Hawtin
Nope, I'm good.
Mark Kalzer
okay... I'll close it here.
